HID upgrade

[Al]

I am looking to uprade to a HID for the dip beam only which I understand to be an H1 bulb, most of the bike specific kits cost around the £40 mark but a car kit is half that price and you get two of everything.
Are the car kits ok to fit to a bike?

Al.

[kfrogzx7]

I bought a car kit and it's fine, however, I wouldn't recommend doing it.
I find that it's too bright and despite careful height adjustment I'm getting flashed by cars ALL the time.
Also the dipped beam is so bright that putting the headlight on seems to make very very little difference to longer range visibility !! Quite disheartening.
I'm about to remove the HID from my bike and go back to good quality ( maybe slightly higher wattage ) halogen bulbs.
Anyway, I could let you have the spare unused bulb / ballast kit to try if you want, I wouldn't want anything for it.

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

I had a HID on my 1100S and it failed riding back from Dover to Essex at night. It ketp going out. I had to keep switching it of and back on.

I tried higher wattage bulbs on my R1200ST (two Twin Filament bulbs 80/100w instead of 55/65w) but the CanBus system refused to light both bulbs at once it basically thought because they wanted more power there was a fault and shut one off. So back to ordinary bulbs for me.

[kfrogzx7]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HB3-HB4-H1-H4 ... 7675.l2557

This is the kit I got.

Al, sorry to retract my offer of the spare HID kit straight away, but I've just remembered that back in the summer when I was fitting it the first bulb was apparently faulty. I fitted the second bulb and it worked so I never checked whether it was a fault or just miss assembled / connected.
You're still welcome to try the kit but I'd rather get the working set off my bike and get that to you rather than send a suspect bulb.
Should be going back to ordinary bulbs before the spring, but don't know when exactly yet.

[Al]

Hi Simon, If I do swap to HID I will buy a new kit so that I will have a spare in case of a failure when out and about, but thank you for the kind offer.

Al.

[markw]

Hi

I fitted a HID 50 kit (www.hid50.com) to my 1100S about 4 years ago, have done over 100,000 miles on the same bulb, no problem with other drivers once adjusted slightly lower than standard. Have just put a HID 50 kit on my other 1100s, done 10,000 miles again with no problems.

mark

[JamesL]

I had a HID50 kit on the R1150RS but went back to halogen after it died one night - problems blowing the in line fuse, which I never got to the bottom of. As it's an H4 replacement, there's no second bulb for full beam, so when it dies you're stuffed.

Levelling it was OK though.

I'm now running as bright bulbs as I can find from Halfrauds, and they seem to work well. The GS has a couple of auxillary lights fitted and on full beam you can see miles ahead.

Wondered why the lights were so dim last week; until I got round the front of the bike and found a thick baked-on layer of opaque salty crud across the lenses...

[kfrogzx7]

Test rode my HID50.com headlight and dipped lights last night.
I would heartily recommend them, the lights are transformed and are as good as any bike lights I've ever experienced.
Expensive option I know but for me I'm very pleased with the result so far.

[KenG]

don't get it, bikers start fitting cheap kits that blind drivers, then they flash you, of maybe a truck with 6 big rally lamps fills your eye balls up with light, and you end up in the hedge or the front of the lorry.
prob ok for day use to "be seen".
i got to admit, if i'm blinded at night by blue glint rainbow lights, which are ill fitted h.i.d.'s in the cars coming towards me, i do just give them main beam.
chit happens, but they started it.
you can see them coming, the beam is scattered everywhere like a battered ear, probably even annoys aircraft
i read on some conformity site that they're only supposed to be on projector lights with a wash wipe. and from factory, like some Honda cars, and range rovers and bmw cars ,, but otherwise not legal.
i don't like to piss off my insurance.

[Boxermed69]

i read on some conformity site that they're only supposed to be on projector lights with a wash wipe. and from factory, like some Honda cars, and range rovers and bmw cars...

I was told this when I bought a MINI with the HID lights. I asked if I could have them without the chocolate fireguard wash system - nah. Legal requirement. Not wash/wipe, just wash. Bloody useless.

Mike

[Mitch1100]

My brother fitted these to his 800s as he travels to and from work on mountain roads in the dark. Expensive but brilliant.
https://www.clearwaterlights.com//infopg_darla.html